Gary Farrell Vineyards, Russian River Valley, and Auberge du
Soleil, Rutherford
California, USA
October 9 and 15, 2021
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin -
real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to
be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be
served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin.
At last it dawned on me that these obstacles are my
life."
... The Most Reverend Alfred D'Souza, Archbishop
Emeritus
of Agra (Taj Mahal diocese), Uttar Pradesh,
India
This essay,
There's Always Something!,
is the one thousand six hundred and fiftieth in this
Conversations For Transformation
internet series.
The view from Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, California, USA
In California we have
wildfires
(we have
earthquakes
too and mudslides, but in this conversation that's actually besides the
point).
Kansas
has tornadoes. Florida has
hurricanes.
New York has
flash-floods.
Hawai'i has volcanoes. Louisiana has storms and storm-surges.
This conversation isn't about the causes of these natural
phenomena (or if you prefer, these un-natural phenomena).
Indeed, that particular conversation is both a pertinent and a
critically important one to have for sure. No, this
conversation is about who we are (or if you prefer, it's
about who we be) in
the face
of them.
Some years ago when the threat of
wildfires
in California became the new normal (or if you prefer, when it became
the new ab-normal), I began contemplating where else would be a
safer place to live. And before long, after considering multiple
options both national and international, I realized the
Zen-slap-across-the-head
obvious: there's always something! There's always
something untoward to deal with everywhere. There's war, there are the
effects of climate change, there's always something. I'm reminded of
that infamous British tourist who set out to travel
the world
in search of the perfect place to live, then wrote his friends saying
he'd found it (really): the British Islas Malvinas aka the
Falkland islands. That was April of 1982. Three days later the
Argentinian military invaded. The Falklands war had begun.
There's a place we're thrown to go to (justified or not) in
the face
of conflict and abnormal natural phenomena. It's complaint - as in
"This isn't it.". It's natural to go there. No, it's more
than that: it's it wouldn't be human not to go there.
Look: it's not just conflict and abnormal natural phenomena we're
thrown to complain about ("This isn't it."). It's more intimate / it's
way more immediate than that. It's our relationships (or
if you prefer, it's certain aspects of our relationships) which "isn't
it". It's the murky feelings and emotions we wake up with in the
morning which "isn't it". It's the way we know we'll be
happy
once we've made enough
money
... and then find out we aren't any
happier
with more
money,
which "isn't it".
I've begun inquiring if it's possible (could it be?) that
"this"
is all "it" too - the conflict, the abnormal natural
phenomena, the murky feelings and emotions we wake up with in the
morning, the (quote unquote) unfairness in realizing that
nothing makes us
happy
... could it be that we've mis-aligned "This isn't it" only with
the content of our lives and of
Life itselfover which we have no say anyway, and entirely miss the say we
do have over the context of our lives and of
Life itself?
And listen (Gee! I really want you to get this): we have total say over
the context of our lives and of
Life itselfeven if / even when we have no say over their content.
By asserting our say over the context of our lives and of
Life itself,
"There's always something!" becomes a simple, obvious
enlightened
truth / acceptance. It's an
enlightened
truth / acceptance which replaces the complaint "This isn't it" with the
possibility "This is it" ie which replaces the complaint "There's
always something!" with the possibility "There's always
something!", regardless of the circumstances / content of our
lives. That's a transformation. With the onset of this transformation,
the circumstances of our lives remain unchanged (they are what they
are) while
the context in which we newly
hold them, has shifted
dramatically.
This
contextual
shift
renews the way we hold conflict and abnormal natural phenomena,
empowering us to deal with them responsibly, powerfully, effectively.
